Comedy

I have been a fan of Maher since Politically Incorrect, which by its very name was enough to draw me in. All his wit and sarcasm is here. Some segments had me laughing for minutes afterward, although I didn't like the format. Saying "new rule" before every segment got a little annoying, especially since some were only a sentence or two long.

As usual with our polarized society, anyone who doesn't agree with him won't take the time to listen, so mark this one for fans only. Right wing nuts will stick with Coulter, where facts are rare because they interfere with her rhetoric. Maher takes real news and puts his own spin on it, and ends up bashing everyone about equally -- except for Dubya. If you are a Dubya lover you definitely won't like this book.

I always enjoy Wilmore's spots on The Daily Show. His mild take on racism has some unexpected reversals -- like the title, "I'd rather we got casinos". The bits in this book are in the same vein but most go on too long and lack punch. I would say it's amusing most of the time and funny only some of the time. His delivery is perfect though. He is an excellent narrator.

I'm a big Maher fan but I found this book mostly a waste of time. Most of his rants he has done before and funnier -- this one is more "serious". However he wrote the book in 2002 and so much of the material is dated. Some of the rants in this book are off topic as well -- what does euthanasia have to do with terrorists?

He does bring up a lot of excellent points. If you need some enlightening as to the decline of Western civilization and the global effects of American gluttony, there are lots here. His wit is sharp as always.

However, while stating that American myopia and blissful ignorance about everything outside her borders infuriates the rest of the world (which it does), he promotes that kind of thinking in his own opinions. As Iraq has shown, the President is not the "leader of the free world" anymore, and the mighty American military can't beat any country in the world into submission simply by attacking it. No country can win a war against a determined population -- the Soviets found that out in Afghanistan. America found that out in Viet Nam. And America hasn't the greatest nation on Earth for 200 years, only for the last 50. Before WW2, America was still a struggling new nation.

He also neglected to mention the contributions other countries made in Afghanistan and even in WW2, continuing the trend of the American media to rewrite history. He also didn't mention that people of many countries lost their lives in 9/11, which made 9/11 an attack on everyone, not just America.

These kinds of hypocrisies disappointed me and detracted from my enjoyment of the book.